


Special Deliveries

by hueue



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, FUCK you!, Multi, this is S O F T
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 04:59:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18242870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hueue/pseuds/hueue
Summary: The Doctor gets some old packages that need delivering.





	Special Deliveries

**Author's Note:**

> this is.........................soft

Given the circumstances of the day before, Ryan was quite content with never seeing anything related to Kerblam! ever again―especially the mega-creepy Kerblam Man that the Doctor had been so excited to see. So, imagine his horror when four more appeared the following day, all arriving barely a second after each other.  

 

“Gah!” Yaz jumped, gripping the Doctor’s arm which had instinctively flung itself out to protect her; Ryan got as far away from them as he could, hiding behind the console; and Graham choked on his coffee flinging the rest of it at the closest Kerblam Man. Unfazed, the robot kept its plastic smile and eerie glowing eyes,

 

“Delivery for the Doctor!” all four chimed, arms holding variously sized packages. Hesitantly, the Doctor walked towards the delivery bots, her hand out to tell Ryan and them to stay put.

 

“I haven’t ordered anythin’.” she raised an eyebrow, “Tell me the dates of these orders...please?”

 

“April 2nd, 2005!”

 

“October 3rd, 2009!”

 

“June 30th, 2010!”

 

“May 12th, 2017!”

 

All the robots said different dates, all of them getting a surprised expression from the Doctor.

 

“Well, their slow in their delivery times, eh?” Graham chimed, “It’s been almost thirteen years for one of ‘em.”

 

The Doctor shrugged, “Benefit of the doubt, I’m rather hard to catch.” she retrieved, one of the boxes (the one from 2009), ripping it open,

 

“Hey, Doctor, watch out!” Ryan exclaimed, flinching. She shook her head,

 

“No bubble wrap.” she smiled taking out a wad of colorful gift wrap, “Guess they switched it out altogether, huh.” the tension in the room dissipated, the companions let out a relieved breath. Yaz walked over to the Doctor’s side as she unwrapped the package, the alien’s eyes lit up, “Ohh!!!!”

 

“What is it, Doc?” Graham joined her, Ryan followed. The Doctor pulled out a quite ridiculous hat and a pair of old-fashioned 3D glasses, the type where the lenses are blue and red.

 

“The party!” she exclaimed, she continued at the sight of their confusion, “My friend and I, we were going to a party on Invictor 9―the biggest party planet in the galaxy. We never did go, ended up on this planet called Midnight and…” a cloud passed over her vision, Ryan could tell whatever had happened on Midnight hadn’t been good. The Doctor shook her head, “Nevermind that. I always wondered where this stuff went.” She tried on the 3D glasses, beaming at the three of them, “Been waitin’ three regenerations for this!”

 

Yaz chuckled at the Doctor lovingly, she cocked her head to the side, “When you say ‘regenerations’―”

 

“I mean my other bodies, yes.”

 

“Oh.”   

 

He would probably never get used to that. The Doctor had said right off the bat that she’d been a ‘white-haired Scotsman’ thirty minutes prior to them meeting but the thought of the Doctor looking like somebody else was just a bit weirder than he could take. As far as he was concerned, the Doctor was always gonna be a tiny, blonde firecracker.

 

“What about the others?” Ryan asked just as the first Kerblam Man teleported away. He took the package from 2010, opening it to find odd plush childrens’ dolls―a roman, a woman in a short-skirted police uniform, and a man wearing a bowtie. The Doctor’s eyes grew soft,

 

“Amy’s wedding gift.” she smiled softly to herself, she grabbed the box and dug deeper to retrieve the final doll―a woman with big curly hair in a glittering red dress. “‘ad these made by a psychic seamstress a few galaxies away, she’d ‘ave them ready before you even called.”

 

Graham studied the dolls, “Who’s Amy?”

 

“She was a friend.”

 

 _Was._ Ryan noted.

 

“Bought ‘em for her wedding, she liked little dolls. She and her husband, Rory, his name was: They used to, um, travel with me,” Ryan could almost see the memories playing out in her head, she gingerly touched the curly haired doll. “River, too.”

 

Yaz frowned, the second Kerblam Man teleported, “River?”

 

“My wife.”

 

Now that was a shock. Yaz went red, her eyes wide. Graham just stared slack-jawed. Ryan tried to hide the udder befuddlement in his when he asked, “You’re married?”

 

“Don’t seem the type, do I?” The Doctor smiled, it became hollow, “Still, all gone now.”

 

Before any of them could ask the questions bubbling to the surface, the Doctor grabbed another box (the one from 2017) and opened it. She smiled brightly, the distant look in her expression thankfully gone, she pulled out a pack of guitar strings and a copy of the Terminator.

 

“Have you lot seen this movie?” she asked, turning the movie over in her hands, “Bill said I’d like it, what d’you all think?”

 

“Bit violent.” Yaz said, “I’m not sure if it would be your style. Is Bill another friend?”

 

The Doctor nodded with a loving expression. The penultimate robot disappeared, her attention turned to the guitar strings, “And I _just_ lost the guitar!”  

 

Graham asked, “You play guitar?”

 

“Dunno. Scottish me did, very well actually.” she opened the pack, tenderly feeling the strings before setting them aside. Finally, she grabbed the final box, peeling away the packing tape carefully; again, she smiled, now holding a red jacket, “For Rose,” she said, as if Ryan knew who that was. “her old one got torn up. Told her I’d buy ‘er a new one. Look,” she turned the jacket over to reveal two small golden roses embellishing the sleeves, “thought she’d love it.”

 

The last robot disappeared, much to Ryan’s content. He leaned in towards the Doctor, “Friend, I’m guessin’?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Yaz furrowed her brow, “Wait a minute,” she took the jacket from the Doctor’s hands, “I’ve seen this before. I’ve seen this on the TARDIS.”

 

The alien shook her head, “Can’t ‘ave.”

 

“No, wait.” Yaz ventured out into the TARDIS, taking the rest of them with her. The group turned down a hallway that transformed into a cavernous, sweeping room filled with clothes―the wardrobe. “Look!”

 

Just as Yaz had said, the jacket laid right above an old brown coat. The Doctor scrunched up her face.

 

“It’s been worn, too.” Graham noted, pointing at a tear in the fabric.  

 

“This doesn’t make sense…”

 

Ryan looked around, marveling at the wardrobe. He’d just brought his own things aboard the TARDIS when they stopped in Sheffield and he hadn’t been exploring the spaceship as much as he expected to. His eyes scanned the shelves, trying to imagine the Doctor actually _wearing_ some of the things: A garrish, rainbow coat; dirty sandshoes; a gigantic scarf that sprawled the shelves; a sweater vest lined with question marks. Something in the corner caught his eye: a speckling of red glitter. Ryan broke away from the group and reached up to the glitter curiously, he pulled at it and gaped, “Hey! Doctor!” he lifted the curly haired doll, now sporting a faded red kiss, above his head, “This is ‘ere, too!”

 

Her face scrunched up even further, “Wha…?” she stood, retrieving her sonic screwdriver from her pocket and scanning the kiss mark. She exhaled sharply at the results, “It’s hers.” she sped over to Yaz and Graham, holding the duplicate of the red jacket, and scanned it as well, “Rose’s hair is on it. What is going _on_?” she fiddled with the sonic, flipping it over in her hands pensively, “How can their DNA be on it if they never _got_ it?”

 

“Well, are you sure?” Graham asked, shrugging, “Are you sure you never got it?”

 

The Doctor flung her hands about, exasperated, “Yes. Well…No, I..Look, Graham! I’m nearly 3,000 years old, I can’t remember _everything!”_

 

“You said you’re 3―?”

 

“OH!” Graham’s dumbfounded question was interrupted by the Doctor hitting herself in the face, “I’m stupid, ain’t I!? I’m the thickest Time Lord this side of the Milky Way! Don’t you see?” when they didn’t respond, she exclaimed, “It was _me!_ I delivered this to myself in the past!”

 

“How…does that work?” Ryan asked.

 

“Timey Wimey.” her face brightened, “ Oh, I never really change, do I?” she raced over to the console room with the companions in tow. She circled the console, rapidly flipping switches and turning dials, “Now…crossing my own timeline is tricky and a bit shaky.” as if to prove her point the TARDIS rocked to the side, sending them all tumbling. The Doctor shot back up, righting it, “She hates it, tries her best to avoid it. For the best, really, nasty stuff―paradoxes.”

 

“Then why are we doing it?!” Yaz yelped, holding onto the console as they were thrown around.

 

“Because I have the stuff now! I can’t both have the stuff with their DNA and have a timeline where they _never got it._ That’d be a paradox in itself, and technically speaking, I’ve already given it to them. So, this is just me doing my part!” she flung down a lever and the TARDIS shuddered violently. “Okay…” the Doctor walked towards the door slowly, “Let’s all take a look, yeah?”

 

The companions joined her at the door, she cracked it open just enough for all of them to see a sliver of the outside. From across the way, Ryan could see another TARDIS, this one lighter than the current Doctor’s, “There’s your TARDIS!”

 

“Bingo, Sinclair!” The Doctor went to grab the jacket, neatly tucking it into the box. “April 2nd, 2005. Delivery for me!”

* * *

 

They waited about a block away from the other TARDIS, the Doctor shifting on her feet. She kept tapping the box, making a near constant rapping noise. Ryan had never seen the Doctor nervous like this: she’d faced everything they went up against with a smile and a boatload of over-confidence, but this was different.

 

“What’re we waiting for?” Yaz asked after a few minutes passed.

 

“If I remember right, I leave to go get chips with Rose―my treat―in two minutes and thirty-seven seconds.”

 

“How’d you remember _that?”_  Graham raised an eyebrow,

 

“Time Lord, Lady, whatever, Graham. If anything, I’m good with time.”

 

Surely enough, two minutes and thirty-seven seconds later, a blonde woman opened the TARDIS doors (Rose, Ryan assumed) followed closely by a man in a leather coat with close-cropped hair. The Doctor stiffened slightly.

 

“Is that you?” Ryan gaped, finding absolutely none of his friend in the face of the blue-eyed man.

 

“Sure is. Handsome, yes?”

 

“The ears are…a lot.” Yaz joked, the Doctor made a betrayed face,

 

“Oi, Yasmin Khan, be nice!”

 

“We’re dropping the package off now?” Graham was already walking towards the other TARDIS, the Doctor walked fast enough to pass him and reach it first. She took out her key and stuck it into the lock, the door opened before she turned it. Ryan glanced into the other TARDIS, shocked again by the stark difference between the interiors.

 

“Grunge phase.” the Doctor explained, placing the package on the ground, “I grow out of it.” they were nearly out of the TARDIS when a voice boomed behind them,

 

“Who the hell are you?”

 

The Doctor blanched, turning on her heels to face the man holding a blaster directly at them. She fumbled for the psychic paper, flashing it, “Delivery team!” she exclaimed, “Here to deliver.”

 

The man smirked, “This just says: ‘hello, Jack’.” the Doctor blushed, the man, Jack, stowed his gun, “That paired with the terrible outfit, plus a cute face―you look different, Doc.”

 

“So, do you.” she smiled, they just looked at each other then the Doctor hugged him tightly. “It’s been a while, Captain Jack.”

 

“I can tell!” he laughed, hugging her back. “Now, why can’t I get anything like that from Ears? He’s such hard work!”

 

“But worth it.”

 

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Jack looked over the Doctor at the companions, “Still, picking up cuties, Doctor, you sly dog.” he winked Ryan’s way, “Hello, handsome.”

 

“Stop it.” the Doctor groaned.

 

“Just saying hello!”

 

“Sure…” she looked around the console room quietly, “We’ve gotta go. Don’t tell them about this okay?”

 

Jack mimed zipping his lips and throwing away the key. The Doctor turned away, walking towards the door, “Hey!” Jack called, “That hug was really nice―sure future me could use one.”

 

The Doctor’s eyes lit up, “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll give ‘im, one.”

 

The trip to the next delivery was just as shaky as the first, but, thankfully, they’d gotten to the next destination in one piece. They stood outside a house on a quiet street, the Doctor held the box containing the glasses and the hat.

 

“Where are we?” Ryan asked, shivering in the cold of October.

 

“Chiswick.”

 

“I don’t see the TARDIS anywhere.” Yaz said, searching for it. The Doctor pointed at the house,

 

“It’s in the backyard.” her attention was caught by a light turning on in the front room of the house. An older man and a red-haired woman flanked the sides of a tall, amazingly skinny man wearing the same coat Ryan had seen in the wardrobe―another Doctor.

 

“Look at the hair on ‘im!” Graham said, pulling at his own to mimic the style.

 

“Still in grunge phase, okay!” the Doctor explained, tucking the box under her arm and marching up to the door. The door opened shortly after, it was the red-haired woman. The Doctor deflated slightly,

 

The red-haired woman crossed her arms, “Yeah, who’re you?”  

 

“Delivery.”

 

“For? I ‘aven’t ordered anythin’.”

 

“Donna Noble.” the words seem to sting on their way out of the Doctor’s mouth.

 

“Can’t be.” Donna’s eyes narrowed, “You seem familiar, have we met?”

 

The Doctor pretended to read the packing slip, completely ignoring Donna’s question, “Says here ‘if you can’t contact the Doctor, leave package with Donna Noble’.”

 

Donna chuckled, “Oi!” she yells, facing the front room, “Doctor, why’re your space packages gettin’ sent to me, you numpty!”

 

The Doctor smiled wide, especially at the insult for some odd reason, the smile diminished when the other-Doctor peaked his head around the corner.

 

“I ‘aven’t!” he defended, Ryan looked him over. How many layers was he wearing? That must be the tightest suit ever made. The other-Doctor then exclaimed, “Oh!” he excitedly jumped up, “It’s Kerblam!”

 

“It’s what?” Donna asked.

 

“It’s Kerblam!”

 

“You’re just saying words.”

 

Ryan heard Graham chuckle behind him and mutter to himself, “She’s got the right idea.”

 

“It’s this big shop, got everything you’d ever want.” the other-Doctor explained, he then turned to the Doctor, “Usually the send the Kerblam Man, though.”

 

“Ah, yes, they’re out of commission for the time being.” the Doctor faked remorse, “That’s why they sent all four of us―to apologize. We’re sorry.”

 

Ryan went along, “Yeah, sorry.”

 

Yaz smiled, “Sorry.”

 

Graham nodded, “Sorry, mate.”

 

The other-Doctor didn’t look put off by the explanation, much too focused on the package to really pick it apart, “It’s fine! Thank you!”

 

Donna began to close the door, asking the other-Doctor, “What’s you get us?” followed by a quiet, “Wait, has this been opened?”

* * *

 

A few minutes later and they were in the parking lot of a small grocery store in an even smaller town: Leadworth, the Doctor had said it was. Apparently, this is where they would find yet another version of the Doctor and, most likely, their wife. Maybe this was why the Doctor was particularly tense, her nails dug into the side of the box and her eyes were trained on the other TARDIS sat just a few feet away from them.

 

“I’ll just…drop it off, yeah?” the Doctor said to herself, psyching herself up. “Just knock and go!”

 

“Ding dong ditch.”

 

“Brilliant, Ryan!” She confidently stomped up to the TARDIS doors, holding the package out. That confidence was all but completely lost when the doors opened; she panicked, hiding on the side of the space-time ship. “Act natural!” she mouthed.

 

Ryan turned awkwardly towards Yaz and Graham, the three of them talking pointlessly while all trying to get a glimpse of yet another Doctor. The TARDIS doors opened completely, their pointless conversation died at the sight of a gangly man with floppy hair and a bowtie striding out of the TARDIS. The Doctor made a face, rolling her eyes when the man eccentrically twirled around and grinned, “Ding dong! We made it, Ponds!”

 

A woman and a man―the police doll and the roman doll―stepped out behind him.

 

“Leadworth?” the woman frowned, “Wow, Doctor, this is the greatest place you’ve taken us.” she said sarcastically.

 

“We’re out of jammy dodgers, Amelia,”

 

“Amy.” both the woman corrected and the Doctor mouthed.

 

“and I’m not going another day without them.”

 

“You had them yesterday.” the man said, the other-Doctor wore a comedic expression.

 

“And!?”

 

The trio walked into the grocery store watched by an older woman with a massive halo of curls.

 

_The Doctor’s wife._

 

Somehow, she looked just like Ryan would imagine the wife of the wild Time Lord to be: threatening beyond belief but just enough mischief in her eye to make you forget it.

 

The Doctor shuttered, eyes now locked on the woman who stood just outside the TARDIS doors, two inches away. “Don’t.” The Doctor muttered to herself, setting the package on the ground but not moving away.

 

“Oh, this is awful.” Yaz sighed, “Why doesn’t she just…say hi?”

 

“Probably one of those time rules, Yaz.” Ryan shook his head.

 

“When has she ever cared about those?” Graham chuckled, “That’s her wife. She has a right to say hello to her wife.”

 

“Maybe she can’t.” Ryan offered, “We’ve never seen her wife before, yeah? What if she…what if she died?” He looked down, “Maybe she can’t say hello ‘cause it’d hurt too much.”

 

Graham grimaced, glancing at the Doctor’s wife and the Doctor, “That’s even more of a reason to do it.”

 

He turned completely around, abandoning the Doctor’s request; he waved slightly to the woman, she looked at him.

 

“Graham, what’re you doing?!” Yaz hissed. Graham subtly nodded towards the Doctor, the woman followed his eyes. She then paled slightly as did the Doctor, face completely devoid of color.

 

“Who’re you?” The woman asked sharply, her voice smooth velvet. The Doctor trembled, tenderly taking the woman’s hands,

 

“Hello, sweetie.” She grinned. Her wife brightened, wrapping her arms around the Doctor’s chest and kissing her lovingly.

 

Graham smiled, “There we go.”

 

They split apart, faces flush. “Look at you!” Her wife purred, “I love the remodel” she tucked her hands around the Doctor’s suspenders, “and you know how much I love these,” she tugged them, bringing the Doctor closer. The Doctor went bright red, “makes everything easier.”

 

“River!” She exclaimed, she pointed to them. “These are my new friends—” she motioned for them to come closer, they did, “Yaz, Ryan, and Graham.”

 

River took Yaz’s hand, “Charmed.”

 

Yaz turned a shade darker.

 

River then picked up the box from the ground, “What’s this?”

 

“Wedding gift.” The Doctor explained, “Meant for it to get here now but I think the timeline got all wibbly so they sent it to my TARDIS. Sent four actually, been delivering them all day.”

 

“Crossing your own timeline to deliver parcels?” River laughed, “This new you is so bad.”

 

The Doctor blushed, then glanced down, her smile melting, “We have to go. One last package.”

 

“Do we have to go right now?” Yaz questioned, “Not like we can be late—we’ve got a time machine.”

 

“Yeah, but the timeline, I sh-shouldn’t be here.” She sighed, taking River’s hand again, “See you, River Song.”

 

“Be home soon, dear.” She smiled, a hint sadder than before. She gently kissed the Doctor again,

 

“Yeah, love, of course.”

 

“What?!” Came a voice—the other-Doctor.

 

The group turned around to face the trio, now back from the shop. The Doctor laughed, “I forgot about the chin! Hilarious!” She waltzed past them, Yaz, Ryan, and Graham following. Stopping in front of the redhead who carried five packs of cookies, “Ooh! Jammy dodgers!” She swiped one from the stack and booped the redhead on the nose, “Nice to see you again, Amelia” she turned again, “You too, Rory!”

 

They finally escaped the situation, leaving River smiling and the others completely lost. The other-Doctor groaned, “I didn’t want to be short again!”

* * *

 

Ryan held the last package, strolling through a nice university campus. He’d seen no TARDIS since their arrival but the Doctor seemed pretty confident in where they were headed. She kept saying hi to certain people who gave her strange looks in reply, but, still, she kept greeting people.

 

“Haven’t seen them in ages!” She waved at a kid on a skateboard, “I used to teach here, y’know!”

 

“Really?” Yaz gave a doubtful look, “ _You_ were a teacher?”

 

“What’s that supposed to mean, Yasmin Khan?”

 

“You don’t have the attention span, Doctor.”

 

“I completely do! I taught here for 70 years—oh, hello, Darcie!”

 

The short-haired woman gave the Doctor a look, “...Hello? How do you know my name?”

 

“Oh!” the Doctor raised her eyebrows, “M-My...uh…my brother’s told me a lot about you, he works here! He’s called the Doctor.”

 

“The Doctor!” Darcie grinned, “Oh, my god, I love him!”

 

The Doctor turned to Yaz with a showy expression, Yaz rolled her eyes, “Yeah, he’s a laugh. Bit grumpy.”

 

“He’s my favorite teacher, and his granddaughter is amazin’.”

 

“Granddaughter?” Graham muttered to himself.

 

The Doctor brightened, “Yeah, she’s pretty great―say, Darcie, love: Where would my dear brother be around now?”

 

“His office, probably.”

 

“Thanks!” the Doctor dug in her pocket and brought out a lolly. “Have a sweet.”

 

“Heh, thank you.” Darcie took the sweet and studied it, “Your brother does the same thing.”

 

“He gets it from me.” she winked and walked off, “C’mon, fam!”

 

“You never told us you had a granddaughter.” Yaz mentioned with scrunched eyebrows once Darcie had left their view.

 

The Doctor turned to the left, “She was talking about Bill. Bill Potts.” Another left, “She’s not my actual granddaughter, we used to travel together. Oh, Bill’s a star, you all would love her.”

 

Yaz relaxed slightly, “Oh, okay.”

 

“My actual granddaughter’s name is Susan.”

 

_“What!?”_

 

Eventually, they found themselves in the hallway of an office with a simple plaque that read ‘The Doctor―professor of’ the remaining words had been scratched out, something that Ryan found very Doctor-y.

 

“Say, Doc, what did you used to teach here?” Graham asked in hushed tones once the Doctor rapped her knuckles against the door.

 

“Depended on the day, really. Around year 45 I forgot what they’d hired me for so I kinda just winged it.” she shrugged, “One day it was astrophysics, another it was game design. Whatever caught my eye.”

 

“And you worked here for another 25 years? Completely unsure of your actual job?” Yaz snorted, “Pure touch and go?”

 

“Oi, Yasmin Khan, it's gotten me this far. Don’t knock m―Hi!” the door suddenly swung open, a rather beautiful young woman in a blue-green jumper stood in the doorframe. Yaz looked as though she might pass out.

 

“Hello!” she, Bill, smiled, “Sorry, his office is closed right now, he’s super busy with gradi―” a loud guitar riff discredited Bill’s excuse, her shoulders dropped, “He’s busy. Promise. He’s helping me with an essay, I’m sorry.”

 

“Don’t apologize, love.” The Doctor looked like a proud parent, presenting the box, “Delivery for the Doctor.”  

 

Bill took the box, regarding it with curiosity, “Oh, thank you!”

 

“Bill?” a deep heavily Scottish voice came from behind the door, “Who’s that?”

 

“A package, for you.”

 

The Doctor stiffened as yet another of her (their?) past selves came into view, he was wearing a pair of sunglasses, sporting a wild mane of grey hair with a slick guitar slung around his shoulders. He adjusted his glasses then seemed to hold his breath, “Bill, put that in the TARDIS.” he turned slightly to face Bill, “Please.”

“...Okay…” Bill began to open it while stepping away, “Have a good day!”

 

“Course!” the Doctor’s big smile turned into a smug smirk once Bill was gone. “Snap.” she said, crossing her arms.

 

“Thought so.” the other-Doctor leaned against the doorframe, “So, we regenerated again, yeah?

 

“Yup.”

 

“Why?”

 

The Doctor exhaled heavily at the question, “You can’t see me, right?”

 

He shook his head, “No―can you see me?”

 

“Spoilers.” they both shared an indescribable expression at the word, “But, Grandad, if you _could_ see me, you would see that I’m having the time of our lives, right now. I’ve been delivering packages all day.” she threw her arms about flamboyantly, “I saw Rose; talked to Jack, and Donna; got to hold River again _and_ make fun of Chinny! And I didn’t even do it alone, amirite fam?”

 

“Nah, you didn’t.” Ryan answered.

 

“We were there.” Yaz nodded.

 

“It’s been a laugh.” Graham smiled.

 

The other-Doctor looked surprised, gingerly the Doctor touched his shoulder, “That’s why.”

 

“Doctor?” Bill called from inside the office.

 

“Go back in there.” The Doctor said, “Figure out why for yourself.”

 

The other-Doctor smiled slightly, and back in through the door frame. Right before the door closed, he popped his head out, “You sound short.” he offered, “Like Clara height.”

 

“Oi!” the Doctor snapped, indignant, “You shut up!”

 

They both laughed, the door closed.

* * *

 

The TARDIS was quiet, the motor making soft noises as the main crystal moved up and down, up and down. A cold draft drifted through the console room from the open door of the TARDIS where the Doctor sat, her feet dangling over the edge.

“Are you okay?” Yaz asked gently, the Doctor nodded.

 

“It was nice…seeing them all again, even if they didn’t know it was me.”

 

“I think they did.” Ryan said, “Deep down, I think they knew it was you.”

 

“You think?”

 

Graham offered her a blanket which she placed over her shoulders. “Yeah,” Ryan continued, “because _I_ knew those other Doctors were you. You look different, _really different,_ but you don’t change.”

 

“Huh.” the Doctor turned back to look at them, a look of quiet gratitude and pride on her face. She had recognition in her eyes that Ryan had never seen before, something deeper, more profound, “I guess not.”


End file.
